That may be the most pained I've ever seen Robert Downey, Jr., who himself almost looks like he was promised Iron Man and only got the actor who plays him. That's precisely why this 18-month-old boy is crying: He thought he was going to meet IRON MAN, but all he got was a lousy Tony Stark.

Heather Denno, Jaxson's mother, was left to console her sobbing son, who was devastated to discover his favourite Marvel comics hero was a work of fiction.

She told People magazine: 'He was fine as soon as he talked to him. [He] was so confused because I kept telling him it was Iron Man and he knew it wasn't. Well, not Iron Man in the suit.'

The 48-year-old star - who appeared visibly worried about having dashed Jaxson's dreams - ran into the mother and son while out for a walk in their neighbourhood of Sunderland and Shelburne Falls where he is shooting his new drama, The Judge.

Downey, Jr. apparently was eventually able to cheer the kid up, though the photographic evidence suggests otherwise.